Saxophone



oct. 6, 1936.

H. w. LoNEY 2,056,680

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H. w. LoNEY 2,056,680

SAXOPHONE Filed Aug. 3l, 1934 2 Sheets-5h66?, 2

INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 6, 1936 AUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEHugh W. Loney, Elkhart County, Ind., assignor to C'. G. Conn, Ltd.,Elkhart, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Application August 31, 1934,Serial No. 742,291

6 Claims. (Cl. 84-385) Y In saxophones, to effect the major trill, C toD, the numeral l indicates a fragment of a saxon C in the stair and on Cabove the staff, the ophone body which is provided with tone holespresent common practice is to play the D note too 2 and 3 for producingthe notes D and E-flat, resharp, for all key mechanisms and devicesherespectively, said tone holes being under the contofore invented havebeen so complicated that trol of the pads, or tampions, 4 and 5, respec-5 they have either not been used at all, or they have tively, said padsbeing mounted at the end of the come into very limited use onsaxophones. The tiltable key arms 6 and l, reSDeCtiVely, Figuresprincipal object of my invention is to effect the 1 and 2. major trill,C to D, by other and different means In this structure the key arm 6 iscarried on a io than has been heretofore devised. rock shaft 8 which ispivotally mounted in the 1U Another object of this invention is toprovide posts 9 and I0 iixed in the instrument body, the improved andsimpliiied means for effecting the tone hole 2 being normally closed bythe pad 4 major trill, C to D on C in the staff, and on C due to theaction of a spring Il on the key arm E. above the staff in a saxophone,this means com- The key arm 1 is similarly mounted on a rock prisingassociated key mechanism for correctly shaft l2 which is pivotallymounted in the posts 15 sounding the high E-flat tone and for prevent-I3 and I4 flXed in the instrument body. Key arm ing atness in the upperD note. B is provided with an extension which carries the A third objectof the invention is to provide nger tip I5, and key arm I iS providedWith an improved mechanism for fractionally opening the extension I6which Carries linger tip Il for de- E-flat tone hole to flatten the noteD. Yet anpressing said arm, as is well known in the art.

other object is to provide improved mechanism The key arm eXtenSion I5may be bent 011tfor fractionally opening the E-flat tone hole to Wardiyin relation to the instrument body I and flatten the note D forcorrectly sounding the the under surface thereof may be provided withlatter, said mechanism comprising a tiltable arm a flattened surface IB,which may be termed a for causing fractional opening of the E-flat toneWiper Surface, fOr CorlVenienCe, and which is 25 hole, said tiltable armbeing controlled by the adapted to be normally engaged by the point ofrock .shaft which carries the D key arm. the Wiper, 0r Stoll', arIn I9rigidly Connected With Other and more specific objects of the inventherook Shaft 3 and extending radially from tion are mentioned anddescribed herein. the latter. In Fie. l the Wiper 0r Step arm I9 Theinvention is illustrated in the accompanyiS engaged With the lat SllraCeI3, thereby limt- 30 ing drawings, wherein ing the tiltable movement ofthe key arm 1; and

. Figure l is a semielevational view showing the in Fig. 2 the arm I9haS been tilted aWay from the invention applied to a saxophone and inwhich Surfaee I8, by roeking the Shaft 3, thereby freeing the E-lat tonehole is open fractionally and the the key arm 'I O Said arm I9, wherebythe tone D tone hole is closed, and wherein the E-at key hole 3 may befully Opened. 35 arm is restricted by the stop arm; Obviously, When thearm I9 engages the nat Figure 2 is a similar View showing the sameSllrfaoe I3 of key arm "I, thereby limiting the tilt tone holes and thesame elements and wherein of the arm 1, the key Dad 5 Which Controls theboth tone holes are wide open; tone opening 3 is only slightly liftedout of con- 40 Figure 3 is a, diagrammatic View o1' developtaCttherewith, whereby Said tOIle Opening is only 40 ment of the keymechanism of a saxophone in partially opened- Figure 1 of the drawingsalso which my invention is incorporated; shows the tone hole 20 forproducing note B, and

Figure 4 is a section taken on line 4-4 of Fig. the pad 2| forControlling same, the latter being 3 through the E-flat tone hole andincluding the in the Closed position. Fig. 2 shows the tone ho1einstrument body and the tampion; 20 open, and both Figures l and 2indicate the 45 Figure 5 is a section taken on line 5-5 of Fig. adjacentbutton 22 which overlies the pad 2|. 3 through the D tone hole andincluding the in- In trilling from C to D on both the conventionalstrument body and the tampion; and type of SaXoDhone and a saxophoneequipped with Figure 6 is a section taken on line 6 6 of Fig. 3 myinvention the C note is played With the 5o through the F tone hole andineiuding Jthe inforked fingering. that is, by depressing the but- 50strument body and the tampion. ton 22 which overlies the pad 2 IfortheBtonehole. Similar numerals of reference indicate like The button22 is Carried on the end of an arm parts throughout the several views onthe draw- 23 Which is Conneeted With rock shaft 24 and ings. depressionof said button rocks said shaft 24, Referring now to the details of thedrawings thereby tilting an arm 25 Connected therewith, 55

said arm 25 engaging beneath the extension 25 of a tiltable yoke element27, said yoke element including the yoke arms 28 and 29 which arepivotally mounted on a hinge rod-not shown-well known in the art. Anextension 30 of the yoke arm 29 carries a pad 3| which is adapted toopen and close the tone hole which produces Ci (sharp). It is thereforeevident that depression of the button 22 depresses the yoke armextension 30 and closes the tone hole controlled by the pad 3|, nism nowin common use on saxophones. The depression of the button 22, as abovedescribed, results in the opening of the C tone hole controlled by pad32, which is not a part of this invention.

If now, the musician next plays the D of the trill by using the D key(pad 4) the D tonerresulting therefrom is much too flat in bothregisters. It is therefore customary to use the E-iiat key (pad 5)y forplaying note D.V But in a conventional saxophone, whieh is not equippedwith my invention, the upper note D, of the trill, is somewhat toosharp. To overcome this tone defect my invention is incorporated in thesaxophone, and the important element of my invention is the stop arm I9which normally contacts the flat face I 8 of the key arm 'l to limit thearea of opening in tone hole 3 when pad 5 is lifted therefrom when tonehole 2 is closed by pad 4. And it is this sharpness of the D tone, onthe trill above referred to, which is fully overcome by the stop arm I9which limits the area of the opening of tone hole 3, as above described,thereby attening said D tone to the desired degree to produce thecorrect tone.

`Also, when the tone hole 2 is opened by the depression of the key armtip I5, which automatically tilts the stop arm I9 out of contact withthe surface I8 lof arm extension I6, the key arm l is then unrestrained,and depression of the tip I7 thereof fully elevates the pad 5 and fullyopens the tone hole 3, thus sounding the high E-at correctly.

It will be evident from the foregoing that my invention restricts theopening movement of the E-lat key pad 5 when the D pad 4 closes tonehole 2, thereby preventing sharpness of the upper note D of the trill,this being due to the fractional opening of the tone hole 3.

Also, it will be evident that, upon depression of the key arm 6 to openthe tone hole 2 to produce D tone, the stop arm I9 is swung away fromthe fiat surface I8 of the extension I6 of key arm 1, whereby depressionof key arm l, which actuates pad 5, enables the player to open tonewhich is conventional key mechahole 3 to the maximum degree, thussounding the high E-iat tone correctly.

I claim:-

1. In a saxophone, a saxophone body provided with a tone hole, a key armand pad controlling said tone hole, means for limiting the movement ofsaid key arm and pad for fractionally opening Said tone hole, and meansfor relieving said key arm and pad of said movement limiting means toenable said tone hole to be fully opened.

, 2. In a saxophone, a saxophone body provided with a tone hole, atiltable key arm and pad controlling said tone hole, means for limitingthe tilt of said key arm and pad for fractionally opening said tonehole, and rock shaft means for relieving said tiltable arm of said tiltlimiting means to enable said tone hole to be fully opened.

3. In a saxophone, a saxophone body provided with an E-ilat tone hole, atiltable key arm and pad controlling said tone hole, tiltable means forlimiting the tilt of said key arm and pad for fractionally opening saidtone hole, and means for relieving said tiltable key arm of said tiltlimiting means to enable said tone hole to be fully opened.

4. In a saxophone, a saxophone body provided with a D note tone hole andan E-fiat tone hole adjacent thereto, a tiltable key arm and padcontrolling each of said tone holes, and means controlled by said Dnotev key arm for limiting the tilt of said E-at tone hole key arm.

5. In a saxophone, means for correctly sounding the D of the trill whichmay be sharp, said means comprising a saxophone body provided with atone hole, a tiltable key arm and pad controlling said tone hole, asecond tone hole located adjacent said rst mentioned tone hole, atiltable key arm and pad controlling said second mentioned tone hole,and means controlled by said second mentioned key arm for limiting thetilt of said first mentioned key arm, whereby, upon tilting said rstmentioned key arm, the tone hole controlled thereby is fractionallyopened.

6. In a saxophone, means for correctly sounding the D ofthe trill whichis normally sharp, said means comprising a saxophone body provided withan E-fiat tone hole, a. tiltable key arm and pad controlling said E-attone hole, a D tone hole located adjacent said E-fiat tone hole, atiltable key arm and pad controlling said D tone hole, and meanscontrolled by said D tone hole key arm for limiting the tilt of saidE-flat tone hole key arm, whereby, upon tilting said E-at tone hole keyarm, said E-at tone hole is fraotionally opened.

HUGH W. LONEY.

